Philosophy 11001 Dr Frank Ryan Unit 1 Metaphysics Aristotle Philosophy begins in wonder Philosophy Philo Sophia Love of Wisdom Timeline 100 bc end of Minoan civilization 800 bc Homeric age 575 bc First Philosopher Thales Thales All is water argument and reason not myth Rationalist The world is mind like we learn its true nature by the use of reason and logic Empiricist The world is physical we learn about it by using our senses Parmenides 540 470 BC Philosophy needs to remember its commitment to the one 1 principle that everything else derives from If everything manifests the one how is change possible 1 multiple substances in the one ruled out 2 substances can be distributed in nothingness multiple ones also ruled out because nothing cannot exist change does not exist Parmenides Zeno sidekick paradoxes Trust reason not sense 1 Pluralist don t dismiss multiple substances 2 Atomist substance can be distributed in nothingness 500 BC Athens Pericles defeats the Persians Golden Age Corruption of the Assembly Sophists rhetoric persuasion Death of Pericles plague in Athens Pelopenesian War Socrates 470 399 BC Military service Returns to Athens Oracle of Delphi says Socrates is the wisest Level of Knowledge 1 2 3 I think that I know but do not I know I don t know I know that I know I know highest level Know thyself Dialectic Method Q What is justice A Justice is repaying your debts Q exception Charges against Socrates 1 Corruption of the youth of Athens 2 Impiety to the Gods Plato 427 347 BC The wisest should rule Philosopher King The Academy first institute of higher learning Particular physical object Form idea concept definition Particular Strive to be good Truth epistemology Justice ethics Beauty aesthetics What if you could practice injustice and get away with it Form two non parallel lines on a plane surface bisected by a 3rd line For Plato there is no evil there is just the deterioration of good Sophists deterioration of reality ignorance Aristotle 384 322 BC Naturalism Born in Macedonia his father was a physician to King Philip Studied at Plato s Academy Philip was Alexander s father Aristotle tutors Alexander Lyceum founded by Aristotle Aristotle leading expert on everything Form Rationalist 4 Famous Causes Matter Empiricist 1 Material Cause stuff physical matter 2 Efficient Cause mechanical push and pull on matter 3 Formal Cause shape 4 Final Cause idea definition concept Alpha Omega Potential Actuality Inanimate objects physical shape Plant shape and growth Animals shape growth and learn Humans shape growth learn and INTELLECT Intellect Reason the ability to take particulars and abstract them into general concepts that can be communicated by language what sets us apart Happiness is the purpose of studying Philosophy Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue in a complete life Arete virtue and excellence Practical Reason 1 Common Sense 2 Scientific Reason Theoretical Reason Logic math philosophy most noble Social Relativism Chinese Philosophy INTERNAL Plato Aristotle Reality is EXTERNAL Objectivism 1 true reality Naturalist 1 true path to excellence Confucianism 551 479 BC China very long tradition of centralization Han Dynasty Confucian metaphysics what am i Loyalty and Practical Behaviors Taoism Lootsu Tao te ching Art of social and communal living hermit and exile lead to a life of contemplation philosophical enlightenment TAO SOURCE OF ALL EXISTANCE Yin Yang symbiotic relationship Finding the balance of the tao Buddhism 563 483 BC Buddah spent most of his life in India 4 Truths suffering and redemption indulgence and asceticism Jean Paul Satre 1905 1980 Individual Relativism excistentialism Martin Heidegger Theists Atheists Existentialism existence precedes essence essence precedes existence Forms final cause particular Anguish Anxiety Responsible for myself Responsible for everybody Loneliness Gods loss is tragic Rene Descartes 1596 1650 Rationalist Coherence of ideas Objectivism Epistemology Analytic Empiricism G E Moore 1873 1958 Kant mind conforms to objects Objects conform to mind The External World 1 External to my body 2 External to my mind 3 Things external to all minds G E Moore 1873 1958 Here is a hand Here is another hand External objects exist 1 Premises and conclusion must be different 2 3 The conclusion must really follow from the premises I must know the premises to be true Critics 1 Moore misses the point 2 Taunting the skeptic 3 Moore is arguing in a circle 1 Moore is noting the impossibility the regress of justification 2 The skeptical scenario is plausible but not as plausible as Moore s claim Bertrand Russell 1872 1970 Direct Realism Representational Realism Appearances sense data Reality physical material world George Berkeley 1685 1758 To be is to be perceived Simplest explanation is most likely 1 simplest explanation isn t true is the EWIT the simplest 2 G W F Hegel 1770 1831 other 1 Denied separate wellsprings of sense and intellect Codependent of each NEGATION 2 Philosophy must be historic not appriori prior to experience Example A lion sees me this is an example of a being acknowledging that he she is a thing in the external world The lion charges using sense to see it coming there is then a negation interruption of being that causes a switch to intellect to avoid being attacked by the lion SENSE INTELLECT Supporters Right Hegelians Christian Message Left Hegelians Social Justice Worker s paradise St Louis Hegelians Class mobility o Ingenuity o American know how o Inventiveness o Problem solving All of which lead to improving upon the original idea Pragmatism Knowing is doing C S Peirce 1839 1914 Beliefs are fixed Tenacity love an idea and hold on to it Tenacious very determined to do something beliefs Authority there is a right way to think you must believe in our Appriori prior to experience use reason a matter of taste The Scientific Method 1 Problem 2 Hypotheses Diagnosis and solution 3 Test 4 Objective Conclusion Guiding Principles Examples Cultural taking off a hat for the pledge of allegiance Science magnetism gravity The Essential principles 1 Belief habit non reflective a Ex a chair you are not constantly worrying about the chair you are sitting in 2 Doubt 3 Inquiry a Ex the chair creaks and you begin doubting its ability as a chair a In the face of a problem how can it be averted What is wrong with my chair 4 Objective a Here is what is wrong with my chair how to fix it the structure etc The cycle that repeats
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